Refrigerator cabinet



Sept. 1, 1942; cs. 0. HARBISON REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed April 22, 1941 Inventor": George C.Har-bison,

His Attorney.

mil ll/11111111110 Patented Sept. l. 1942 REFRIGERATOR CABINET George C. Harbi son, Erie, Pa., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application April 22, 1941, Serial No. 389,778

. of aligned relatively elongated shelf supporting 3 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigerator cabinets and more particularly to sliding shelves therefor. 'It is an object of my invention to provide an improved arrangement of sliding shelves in a.

compartment of a refrigerator cabinet or the. like.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of my invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l is a partial perspective view of the upper portion of a refrigerator cabinet having a food storage compartment provided with an arrangement for supporting sliding shelves therein embodying the principles of my invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view, partly broken away, of a portion of one of the shelves shown in Fig. 1 illustrating the details of the stop member; Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of the refrigerator shelf shown in Fig. 1 taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, I have shown in Fig. 1 the upper portion of a refrigerator cabinet l designed for domestic use provided'with a metal outer wall ll having a rectangular door opening [2 in the front wall thereof and a suitable heat-insulated door l3 for closing the opening. A sheet metal inner liner I4 arranged in space relation with the outer wall ll defines a food storage compartment IS in the refrigerator cabinet. The front wall of the metal inner liner is provided with a rectangular door opening which registers with a somewhat larger door opening in the metal outer wall ll the adjacent edges thereof being secured together by a strip it of suitable heat insulating material which also should be non-hygroscopic. Suitable heat insulating material 20 is arranged in this space between the outer wall and the inner liner.

As shown in the drawing, the inner liner defines interior, rear and oppositely disposed side walls. In order to refrigerate the storage compartment, there is provided a refrigerant evaporator or cooling element l'l suitably arranged within the cabinet. Inasmuch as the details of the refrigerating system form no part of my present invention, the details thereof are not illustrated.

Removable shelves H! are slidably supported in the food storage compartment on a plurality brackets l9 suitably secured to each of the oppositely disposed side walls of the food storage compartment. The shelves l8 comprise a substantially rectangular border frame having front,

rear and side portions 2|, 22 and 23, .respectively. The side and rear portions have a substantially U-shape as best seen in Fig. 4, the open side facing outwardly thereby providing a pair of vertically spaced-apart ledges or flanges 24 and 25 which serve as a guideway or groove for receiving the shelf support l9. The front portion of the shelf frame may be formed in any desired fashion although I prefer to provide a decorative strip. A supporting surface is provided on the shelf by a plurality of longitudinally-extending spaced-apart members 26, as wires for example, suitably secured to the frame by welding, soldering or the like. The article supporting members are preferably secured to the undersides of the front and rear portion of the border frame, so that the border frame constitutes a marginal stop about the periphery of the supporting surface of the shelf.

In order to limit the outwardly sliding move-- outer end 28 of the stop member and the inner end of the supporting bracket l9 secured to the side wall of the food storage compartment. On the other hand, when the stop members 21 are moved to the left, as viewed in Fig. 2, that is, inwardly from the side marginalfr-ame portion, the shelf may be slid completely outwardly and removed from the food storage compartment through the door opening.

I have provided means for selectively moving the stop member to its movement limiting or movement non-limiting position. This means takes the form of an operating member 29 having a reduced shank secured at one end to the operating member and at the other end to the slide member 21. The shank. member may be separate or integral from the operating member and may be secured in any desired fashion to the stop member as by means of riveting, for example. In order to retain the stop member in association with the shelf frame I have provided a horizontally elongated opening II in the verative position. In order to maintain the stop member in its outer position or movement limiting position, I have provided an outwardly extending projection 22 in the: vertical port of the rear frame portion as by forming a bead or stamped-out portion to be engaged by the crimped or curved end 22 of the slide member 21. When the slide member is moved to the inner or non-limiting position, the resiliency of the slide member 21 will permit the end 32 to ride up on the bead or projection 32.

At each rear corner, the material of the horizontal frame portions 24 and 25 has been drawn or otherwise directed inwardly as indicated by the numeral 34. Thus, I have provided means associated with the shelf frame portion for reinforcing the outer end 28 of the stop members. This construction is advantageous because it permits the use of lighter resilient material for the stop members and hence decreases the cost of the stop without sacrificing strength in the complete assembly. As the shelf is moved outwardly, the stop portion 28 will engage the bracket l9 but further rearward movement will be limited upon engagement of the stop member with the supporting or reinforcing means.

From an inspection of Fig. 2 it will be seen that in the movement limiting position of the stop member the stop engages the shelf portion 32 and 34, respectively, at the outer ends thereof and is supported at substantially the mid-point thereof by the engagement between the rear surface of the operating members 29 and the material adjacent the elongated slot 3 I While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention in connection with a household type refrigerator, modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. For example, instead of drawing or otherwise forming the rear corner portion of the horizontal flange portion 2 and 25 inwardly to provide stop or reinforcing members,

any suitable reinforcing means may be provided. For example, a bracket might be suitably secured as by welding across the flange portion 24 and 25 at each rear corner of the shelf. Therefore,

- including a stop I do not desire my invention to be limited to the construction shown and described but I intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a cabinet having interior rear and oppositely disposed 'side walls, means associated with each side wall for slidably supporting a shelf, means including a stop member carried by said shelf for limiting the outward sliding movement thereof, said shelf in the vicinity of said stop member having a portion disposed rearwardly of said stop member for reinforcing said stop member upon the latters engagement with said supporting means.

2. In a cabinet having interior rear and oppositely disposed side walls, an elongated shelf supporting member on each of said side walls, a shelf including a border frame of substantially ushape in cross-section and extending around the side and rear portions of the shelf, said frame having an open side disposed outwardly, said supporting members being slidably received in the side portions of said frame members, means including a stop member for limiting outward sliding movement of said shelf, said stop member being slidably carried within the rear portion of said border frame, a horizontal portion of said frame in the vicinity of a rear corner of the shelf being formed inwardly to provide reinforcement for said slidable stop member.

3. In a cabinet having interior rear and oppositely disposed side walls, an elongated shelf supporting member on each'of said side walls, a shelf including a border frame of substantially u shape in cross-section and extending around the side and rear portions of the shelf, said frame having an open side disposed outwardly, said supporting members being slidably received in the side portions of said frame members, means member for limiting outward sliding movement of said shell, said stop member being slidably carried within the rear portion of said border frame, the horizontal portions of said frame in the vicinity of the rear corners of the shelf being formed inwardly to provide reinforcements for said slidable stop member, means for maintaining said stop member in its movementlimiting or its movement-non-limiting position, and means for selectively moving the stop member to its movement-limiting or movement-nonlimiting position.

GEORGE C. HARRISON. 

